Daily Recap — Feb 4

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The Civil War Rages On

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Just a few days after Ralph “Coonman” Northam was revealed to have a picture of a klansman on his yearbook page, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has come under a fire for a sexual assault allegation that has apparently been looming for months.

Fairfax has declared the allegation to be Fake News — so fake that the Washington Post wouldn’t run with it, as if the Post laying off a Democrat constitutes any sort of evidence. He then released a statement highlighting the exhaustive investigation the Post undertook and its failure to uncover any evidence against him:

This guy is really high on WaPo, which means he must be really high on something else.

That love affair with WaPo was short-lived, however, as the failing newspaper released its own statement refuting much of what Fairfax claimed. For one, they said, there were no “red flags or inconsistencies” that threw them off the allegations. According to WaPo, there were no witnesses about what happened during the encounter in question because there was no one else in the hotel room besides the man and woman involved. Thus, nothing could be corroborated on either side.

I’m sure the Kavanaugh family would loved to’ve see that kind of evidentiary standard in place for the accusations lobbed toward their patriarch, #ButTheseAreMinorDetails.

Fairfax fired back at the paper in a way that would make PDT blush, accusing the Post of “smearing an elected official,” reiterating that the sexual assault allegation against him is “false,” and threatening to sue the paper for rebuking his earlier characterization of the evidence surrounding the episode.

Aren’t leftists supposed to run around like their hair’s on fire screaming about the First Amendment when that happens? Guess they took a night off.

Predictably, Fairfax then reached for the lowest hanging fruit to see his way out of this would-be scandal, suggesting that Coonman himself could be working behind the scenes to derail what looks to be an inevitable ascension to the Virginia throne.

“This is what we meant when we said that people who continue to spread these false allegations will be sued,” Fairfax said.

Wow.

Prominent black Democrat groups within the state were quick to pick up and push the Northam narrative.

The Collective Political Action Committee (PAC), whose mission is to push affirmative action within the political arena in order to get more black office-holders, issued a statement saying it had “learned through various sources that Governor Northam’s team and advisors have now decided to start attacking Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax by spreading lies to reporters and state leaders in an attempt to quell support for the Lt. Governor as Governor Northam’s impending successor should he resign.”

When asked about that statement, Fairfax hardly condemned it.

“Collective PAC has made its statement — you know, I don’t know precisely where this is coming from, you know, we’ve heard different things,” Fairfax said. “But here’s the thing: Does anybody think it’s any coincidence that on the eve of my potentially being elevated, that that’s when this uncorroborated smear comes out – does anybody believe that’s a coincidence? I don’t think anybody believes that’s a coincidence.”

He makes a good point. But it’s a point relying on nothing more than plain assertion.

Perhaps that’s why Fairfax shifted his fire to a different target later on, this time implying that the mayor of Richmond was behind the dastardly plot. When asked if he still believed that his boss, Gov. Northam, was behind the effort to bring him down, Fairfax replied, “I have seen no indication of that.”

But he took a different tone when asked whether he thought Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney could have played a role.

“You’re a great reporter,” Fairfax replied, without commenting further. Before that, Fairfax praised the surrounding reporters for their investigative work. “You’re great reporters, and you’ll get to digging, and you’ll get to make some connections,” he said.

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THE ENCOUNTER

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A woman named Vanessa Tyson claims Fairfax sexually assaulted her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, when the Lt. Gov. was a campaign staffer. Fairfax acknowledged he had sex with Tyson when he was working for pretty boy Sen. John Edwards, but says the encounter was completely consensual.

“We hit it off, she was very interested in me, and so eventually, at one point, we ended up going to my hotel room,” Fairfax said.

His admission is a major complication for Democrats calling for Gov. Ralph Northam to step down after it emerged there was a picture of men in blackface and Klan robes on his 1984 medical school yearbook page. Fairfax, the descendant of a freed slave named Simon Fairfax, is due to succeed Northam if he resigns. The state Attorney General Mark Herring is next in line after Fairfax.

WaPo described Tyson’s version of events as follows:

“The woman described a sexual encounter that began with consensual kissing and ended with a forced act that left her crying and shaken. She said Fairfax guided her to the bed, where they continued kissing, and then at one point she realized she could not move her neck. She said Fairfax used his strength to force her to perform oral sex.”

Fairfax says that’s a buncha hogwash and he’ll see not only Tyson in court, but everyone pushing her story.

“The Lt. Governor will take appropriate legal action against those attempting to spread this defamatory and false allegation,” his statement read.

He went on to call the story a “complete fabrication” and went on to question the timing. He was 25 and single at the time of the encounter, so if he can get the benefit of the doubt regarding assault, there are no other issues involved, such as adultery.

“Such a shame this is weaponized and used as a smear because this is a very real issue,” Fairfax said.

Meanwhile, Tyson has been taking to Facebook to get out her story:

“Imagine you were sexually assaulted during the DNC Convention in Boston in 2004 by a campaign staffer. You spend the next 13 years trying to forget it ever happened. Until one day you find out he’s the Democratic candidate for statewide office in a state some 3000 miles away, and he wins that election in November 2017. Then, by strange, horrible luck, it seems increasingly likely that he’ll get a VERY BIG promotion.”

Whewwwww lads. Ain’t no drama like some Dim drama..

BIG PICTURE

Having seen accusations weaponized for political purposes repeatedly over the past couple years, I’m sympathetic to Fairfax’s position. Yes, the timing is impeccable and no, there is no evidence aside from the woman’s word. It would be hypocritical and unprincipled of me to call for his head based on what’s been presented.

That being said, he hasn’t helped his case. When the Washington friggin Post fires back at a Democrat politician saying he made his case sound rosier than it actually was, that’s bad, mmmmk? And threatening WaPo with legal action for merely countering his assertions about their own reporting? That comes off as overly defensive.

Then you have the blame carousel that’s been spinning since this allegation resurfaced, starting with WaPo, then moving to Northam and now currently sitting with the Richmond mayor. I’m perfectly willing to hear Fairfax out on any info he may have regarding people targeting him, but he’s offered none. Instead, he’s simply yelled empty accusations of his own that lead outside observers to question whether, as our pal Andrew Gillum would say, “a hit dog is hollering.”

Of course, I’m under no illusion that Fairfax will succumb to the same fate as a Republican would in his shoes. Had there been an ‘R’ by his name, WaPo would have made this a story long ago, corroboration be damned. And now that the cat’s out of the bag, they’ll simply revert to that same double standard in order to ignore the story until it goes away. Absent some show-stopping evidence, which is very unlikely to emerge 15 years after the fact, Fairfax will probably survive this.

He just really needs to keep his mouth shut, because he makes himself look guilty.

Assuming Northam is ultimately pushed out — which seems much more likely than not — Fairfax is in a unique position to serve a 7-year term as Virginia governor. Virginia state law precludes governors from serving consecutive terms, however terms served as a result of unexpected promotion simply don’t count.

Thankfully, Coonman is hanging in there tough, which could make some fireworks in the lead-up to this presumed transition. The best part is some of the old Dim establishment is starting to speak up against the use of decades-old photos to ruin a man’s career, which means there’s a lot more resentment within Dim ranks than the media will ever report.